ITP Awareness Day Cup Cakes

ITP, low platelet count, low Platelets, ITP disease, immune system disease, living with itp, ITP Awareness Day

As you already know, tomorrow is International ITP Awareness Day!

Yay for the 26th of September.

Earlier today (While I was searching for a spleen shaped pinata on Pinterest – Which I will have to make myself, as it does not exist) I found this amazing idea from the International Red Cross Website.  Inspired by the cup cakes that were made for blood donors, I decided to put an ITP spin on them by adding a few small white platelets to the decorations.

The actual cup cakes here are irrelevant.  You can use any kind of cup cake recipe or flavour that you like – really these are all about the decorations on top.  I used a vanilla cake with vanilla icing so that I could colour it red easily.

ITP Awareness Day, ITP, low platelet count, low Platelets, ITP disease, immune system disease, living with itpThe Red Blood Cells

1. Roll Out the Soft Icing – If you can’t buy ready-mixed red icing from the supermarket or grocery store, you can still use white icing, just be aware that you will be mixing white with red and the icing tends to go pink – not the nice dark red you hoped for.  Mine are a bit pinker than I wanted but I ran out of red food dye.

2. Cut Small Circles – Keep your red blood cells nice and small.  If you don’t have a icing tool small enough, try the lid of a small bottle or the smaller opening of a funnel.

3. Make gentle Indentations – You can use either your fingers, if you are gentle, or the rounded end of a cheese knife (as I have used) or a tea spoon.  Press lightly into the centre of the circles while they are still soft.

4. Leave them to Dry – Now leave your red blood cells to dry out on the bench before pulling them from the baking paper.  Because of the sugar content of the icing, these can be a little sticky when they are warm and still wet.  They are much easier to move around when they have had a few hours to dry.

ITP, low platelet count, low Platelets, ITP disease, immune system disease, living with itp, ITP Awareness DayThe Blood Syrup

1. Boil Beetroots – with a little water and Sugar.  I really should have used the beetroot syrup to make the red blood cells as the colour is so vibrant and dark.  You simply need to roughly chop the beetroot and boil for about 10 minutes with half a cup of water and a few table spoons of caster sugar.

2. Simmer the Liquid – If you cook the liquid down, the sugar will start to thicken from the sugar and look a lot more like blood.  It is all very fun.  Enjoy this part – it is messy and hilarious – and I didn’t even have kids ‘helping’ me.

3. Leave to Cool – Make sure all your ingredients are at room temperature before you start to decorate your cup cakes as the syrup could completely ruin your frosting if it is still just slightly warm.  Don’t be in a rush.

 

ENJOY!!

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by Meg

Meghan Brewster is a writer and blogger. She is an ITP patient and launched ITP&Me in 2011. She is a coffee lover and a try hard dancer. @meghan_brewster

2 thoughts on “ITP Awareness Day Cup Cakes

    • Meg says:

      Hmm, tricky. I am writing in Australian terms. I mean the soft premade icing you would use to roll out very thin and cover a wedding cake to make it look perfectly white. In the supermarket here it comes in a box and is called soft icing. I hope that helps.

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